News
The Saint-Avold Conurbation – a new member of the MOT’s network
September 2019
Individual decisions carry important weight in a world brimming over with vitality. Decisions that affect many people and that, taken together, have an impact on certain regions’ demographic developments and economic strength. Such changes can only be managed if we are willing to evolve. The Saint-Avold Conurbation is rising to this challenge and is taking advantage of synergies to pool skills for the benefit of all.
Along with 40 other municipalities, Saint-Avold constitutes a viable structure for cooperation. In spite of an overall and constant reduction in central government funding for local authorities, synergies operate within this entity via the additional resources allocated due to its status as a conurbation. Among the things to be managed, the challenges need to be addressed of the economic and industrial development of the different zones of economic activity in the conurbation, and the cohesion between the rural and more urban areas in this richly diverse territory.
A policy of welcoming businesses needs to make the region more attractive for them. The first results of this are already visible in Saint-Avold, where many businesses and partners are contributing to growth in the region. With them, the conurbation has been able to make structural investments for its development: the new administrative head office purchased in 2017, the enlargement of the six zones of economic activity, etc.
Two hours away from Paris, two-and-three-quarter hours from Frankfurt, one-and-a-half hours from Luxembourg and only 30 minutes from Saarbrücken, Saint-Avold is moving ahead towards a future on both sides of the border. Franco-German cooperation is giving new momentum and new perspectives to the conurbation community. Investment in this area is more than ever a real asset in ensuring the competitiveness of the grouping of municipalities in the European territory made up by the Saar-Lor-Lux Greater Region.
Read the editorial by Tristan Atmania, Deputy Director of the Territorial Attractiveness and Competitiveness Department – Saint-Avold Conurbation : "The cross-border dimension – a new impetus for the territory"
Photo: SIP Jean-Paul Kieffer, all rights reserved
Back to list
